Mushrooms Recipes

I love making this foolproof cornbread recipe. The only difference between versions is the flavor combination. The list of adaptations is endless. I never have a specific idea of the meal I'm going to prepare on a daily basis. My first reflex is to inspect my refrigerator, then go through the pantry and finally mix and match flavors that can complement one another. That's the beauty of cooking.

This time, I mixed crushed hazelnuts, dried porcini mushrooms and roasted garlic into the batter. The pungency from the garlic, the richness from the hazelnuts and the extravagance of the mushrooms created the ultimate, most luxurious cornbread I could think of. Don't you agree?

Farro is a great substitute for pasta. It's gluten free and is cooked in the same manner as rice. The girls asked me to prepare a risotto-style orzo, so I figured if I flavored it with their favorite ingredients of the season, they would barely notice the difference. I used a combination of wild mushrooms, including porcini, crimini, shiitake and chanterelles along with the farro alternative.

I'm pleased to report everyone loved farro; I was even more surprised that they preferred it to pasta and rice. I think it's because changing the menu once in a while is nice. With their addictive personalities, they might request that I cook farro every week from now on!

Being born and raised in France with Vietnamese origins, this mushroom tart perfectly represents my two cultures. And with my husband Lulu being a vegetarian, I wanted to prepare a savory tart that fit his diet.

I prepared a regular butter crust, but I flavored it with green onions and Thai basil. I made the filling with both shiitake and king mushrooms, which have a meaty texture (especially good for vegetarian cooking). I balanced the flavors with five spice powder, sweetened condensed milk as a binder for the filling, garlic, hoisin sauce and rice vinegar. As a reminder of the flavor of the tart, once it was baked I covered it with more sliced mushrooms and added a drizzling of sesame oil for a Vietnamese twist. You could pair it with an Asian peanut red cabbage slaw to complete the meal.

Risotto might appear a bit fancy but once you know how to prepare the delicious rice dish you can make many variations. Today, since I'm still in France, I decided to showcase an extravagant, ritzy version with lobster and bolet mushrooms.

You can prepare this comforting dish all year long. All you have to do is adapt the ingredients of the season. I added a bit of cream at the end for extra decadence and curly parsley for a nice contrast of color. Believe me, if you give this a try, you'll feel like you’re at a nice Parisian restaurant!

Quiche is a typical savory French pastry. In case you’ve never had one, it's an open-faced egg and cheese filled savory tart. This particular recipe is for a rustic, mushroom-filled quiche called quiche forestière. It can be served warm or cold and it's perfect for a picnic.

After attending my friend Alexia's wedding in the countryside this weekend, we're back in Paris and spent the day at the Jardin des Tuileries with baby Aria. Later, we headed to the Carousel and she adored riding the merry-go-round horse. We stopped for lunch at a lovely boulangerie in the 4èmearrondissement on 4, rue du temple. We had an amazing croissant aux amandes (almond croissant), pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) and quiche.